By J1 Reporter Gabby Roche

WAT! Well, what is that? WAT or Walk-A-Thon is a Marian fundraiser for the students, by the students. They work to raise money for tuition assistance, as per Marian tradition. Donations come from everywhere: parents, grandparents, friends, strangers around the neighborhood, give-back nights, bake sales and car washes.

On Sept. 30, the results were in and the school made their goal of $100,000. All 610 of the students walked around the neighborhood. Not only the students worked hard organizing and fundraising for WAT, though. The class moderators worked on many things ranging from communication to helping out at events. 

The class moderators do a lot of things behind the scenes that students who aren’t class officers might not know. They handle all the communications to the student body, help organize the fundraisers and take care of the cash boxes and money. The freshman moderators Ms. Halli Tripe and Ms. Esther Hamra have a larger role in WAT because “they [the freshmen] don’t have class officers, so we have to figure out the fundraisers without the student-led leadership,” Tripe said. Freshman moderators plan the bake sale, provide teacher help, set up/clean up for the bake sale and car wash and help organize and advertise the food nights. 

Mrs. Jaime Piernicky, the sophomore class moderator said, “For sophomores, it’s a learning year.” Her jobs included spending lots of time helping to organize the food nights, so the sophomore class officers can do it their junior year with ease.

Juniors are given more independence. “I meet with the class officers weekly to touch base about fundraising,” moderator Ms. Megan Han said. 

Finally, for the senior class, moderator Mrs. Megan Gillispie just manages who gets what job. Then, it’s up to the senior class officers to get what they need done. She said the seniors demonstrated a “this isn’t just where I go to school, it’s my family,” mentality. The seniors have the most freedom in the school, and they have the most experience under their belt. 

After WAT, all of the moderators came to one conclusion: they are all proud of their classes. Tripe said, “I was very proud of them for just meeting their goal that’s huge for freshman.” The freshman class did go over their goal, reaching 102%.

“I was really proud of my class officers for showing the freshman how things go at the car wash,” Piernicky said. As a class, the sophomores raised 105% of their original goal. 

Han said, “I feel they [the juniors] did what was expected of them and they went above and beyond their goal and whenever that happens that’s amazing for sure.” The juniors raised 124% of their goal as a class. 

Lastly, Gillispie said, “They went above and beyond with the extras and it just blew my mind…..Proud is an absolute understatement.” The seniors raised a whopping 130% of their goal. 

Every class met their goal this year and raised $120,000 as a school, which blew the goal of $100,000 out the water. Splash WAT was a success, crossing another Marian tradition off the books for the 2022-2023 school year.